Return
by Libazeth
Summary: Future fic, slash. Bright’s job introduces him to a old friend, and they try to restart what was never got a chance to begin. BrightEphram.
1. Chapter One

RETURN

Summery: Future fic, slash. Bright's job introduces him to a old friend, and they try to start what was impossible before. Bright/Ephram.

1.

Bright sat in front of a classroom of bored sophomores, last period Friday. "Why did the Romans not like Christianity?" he asked them, looking out into the sea of blank faces. "Well, I shouldn't say Christianity. What were they?"

Mia grinned from the corner of the room. "Jew's for Jesus?"

The class laughed, Bright smiling as well. "Close enough. Why did they make the Roman's nervous?"

Mia raised her hand. "Because of the thing about the lambs rising up?"

Bright jumped up. "Right! Who can find that in their packet?" he looked around as his class diligently began rooting through their binders. "Alex," he pointed at a bored boy unaware of the surrounding class, "Where does Jesus talk about overthrowing the people in power?" 

Alex looked up, surprised. "Uh... in the gospels. He said the meek will overcome the powerful and own the world."

Bright clapped. "Right. And who were those in power?"

"The Romans."

"And who were the meek?"

Alex paused for a second. "The... Jews?"

"Right. Okay, go back to sleep." Bright smiled at the titters that went through the class as Alex straightened up and started to take notes. "And who did Jesus claim to be?"

Mia's hand shot back up, followed quickly by Hannah's. "The son of God!" Mia called.

Bright sat back on his stool in the front of the small classroom. "And...."

"The messiah," Hannah deadpanned.

Bright held back a chuckle at her boredom. "And what is a messiah?"

"Someone to save the Jews and remove them from the Roman's power, and to bring about the end of the world where the righteous will be given power." Genna spoke from the corner. Bright swung around to face her.

"And what does that mean, not looking at the study sheet?"

Genna looked back down. "Um... someone to save them?"

"From..." Bright prompted.

"The Roman oppression," Hannah muttered loudly, looking up from her sketches.

"Right." Bright smiled. "Okay, guys, final five minutes of class. If someone can tell me what we just covered, I'll let you guys go before I head out to the game."

James looked up from the comic strip he was drawing with Mike. "Jesus claimed to be the messiah, but he was criminalized by both the Romans, who thought he was leading a rebellion, and the Jews, who thought he was preaching heresy."

"Good. Okay, you can go. My soccer girls, I'm timing you. Get everyone to the bus in ten minutes, or you don't get cookies."

As his students packed up and rushed out of the classroom, he watched them leave with a faint smile. Bright never thought he would be a teacher, but he found it fulfilling. He taught Ancient Civilizations to sophomores at a private school in downtown Philadelphia, and the school board loved him. His enthusiasm for his subject and his experience with it first-hand as an archeologist made his class a favorite, and students who couldn't care less about most things actually listened.  

He'd been teaching for a few years now, and he loved it. He turned around to collect his things and go find the bus to take his Varsity Soccer team to their game. He bent over to find his sports bag under his desk, when the door closed behind him.

Bright spun around, unsure who it was. Recognizing the smirk of the person in the doorway, he bit his lip and walked towards the door. "Hey."

"Hey." There was a deep smile reflected in the voice, as arms reached out to rest on Bright's chest. "Game?"

"Yeah." Bright stepped away, squeezing himself up against his visitor as he moved towards the door. He turned to his lover as he clicked the door locked. "Wanna play?"

Ephram groaned. "God, yes." He wrapped his hands around Bright's waist, pushing down his turtleneck from behind and sucking on his neck. "But I have a class."

Bright smiled, spinning around. "You love your little music prodigies more than me," he pouted. 

Ephram stuck his lower lip out teasingly. "And you love your little scantily-clad soccer team more than me."

Bright grinned and bit the offending lip. "Guilty. We're going down to Florida this spring break for the Girl's Tournament." He smiled at the thought of his enthusiastic team. "The school board wants me in a different hotel room, of course. I think the whole male-coach-for-girl's-teams makes them nervous." He shrugged. "But hey, we're winning. What else matters?"

Ephram pulled back to sit on a table. "You and I do. Tonight. Bar."

Bright smiled. "Better plan. You, me, tonight, my place. Better things to do than be drunk."

Ephram smirked. "Not drunk. I need to go dancing. You're coming, to help me fend off all my ex-lovers."

Bright snorted, knowing all to well the player Ephram had been before their run-in a few years ago. His trysts with his music students, parents, alumni, and anything with a pulse made the school board annoyed, but his talent as a music teacher made him worth it. 

He sighed and grabbed his bag as Ephram's hands started to wander. "Nothing at school, babe. You know that. Discretion." He walked over the door before turning back to Ephram and stealing a quick kiss before he headed out to meet his team. The kiss deepened against Bright's better intentions, and Ephram pulled Bright up against the table, between his legs. 

Bright pulled Ephram to the edge of the table, grinding against him as he slipped his hands beneath Ephram's loose shirt. Ephram chuckled and went back to marking Bright, but the sound of someone opening a door across the hall brought Bright to his senses. Shoving away from the table, Bright took off into the hall, leaving a smirking music teacher behind.

A/N: So, that's that. Tell me what you think: I've got plans for this to be pretty long. Next chapter will be mostly back story, but I don't know how far I should go with this. Review if you think I should continue...


	2. Chapter Two

RETURN

Summery: Future fic, slash. Bright's job introduces him to a old friend, and they try to start what was impossible before. Bright/Ephram.

1.

Bright stood awkwardly in the main hall of the Howard Friends School. He looked through the table, picking his name tag. 

"Bright Abbot. History Department." A woman's voice read. "Hello, Bright Abbot of the History Department." Bright turned around to face a stern woman in her late sixties. Reaching out to shake her hand, Bright smiled.

"Hello, Marcy Steiner of the Classics Department." The woman's face broke into a smile at Bright's dry greeting.

"You can just call me Marce, dear." She took him by the arm and led him over to a group of people. "I teach Latin and ancient Greek."

"Thank you, Marce. Tell me, what's the appropriate name to go by when school's in session?"

Marcy smiled at him. "First names. Quaker idea of equality. Rather silly, if you ask me, but the school board's rather determined about it." Reaching the group, she let go of his arm. "Bright, this is Lucy Morgan of Modern Languages, Della Tyler of English, and Josh Yarnell of Math," she announced, pointing to a smiling Italian woman, a shy black woman and a short man who faintly reminded Bright of a leprechaun. "Everyone, this is Bright Abbot of History." 

Bright shook their hands. "Hello." 

Marcy smiled. "We forgive Josh for teaching math, because he's fluent in Italian." 

Bright smiled a little, mentally marking Marcy as one of the more eccentric teachers that Howard's was infamous for. Looking around, he began to feel uncomfortable. He was by far the most dressed up of this crowd. Following his eyes, Della grinned.

"Noticing the polo shirts?" She glanced around. "Just trying to camouflage with the students, I guess. Dick's the only one who dresses up, along with the people in the admissions office." She pulled at her own cropped tee shirt. "I mean, no one cares. Most teacher's don't go farther than a sweater vest, but whatever you feel comfortable in."

Bright smiled. "Small town public school kid. Casual Friday, maybe." He glanced around the room, taking in the groups of teachers. Ages ranged from mid twenties to seventies. One group caught his attention: five teachers all under thirty-five. Turning to Della, he flashed a smile. "Who're they?"

Della smiled. "Minors teachers, mostly. Joe's a drama teacher, Lisa and Susan teach art, and-" she cut off. "Want me to introduce you?" she asked, quietly taking his arm. "They won't bite."

Bright looked down at her hand on his arm, and bit his lip. "No thanks. I appreciate the offer, though." He pulled away. "I'll be back. Don't turn on me." 

At her chuckle, he slipped away. There were three men, two women. One of the men really caught his eye: he was turned away, speaking as the rest laughed slightly. He wasn't tall, but he seemed secure. Bright had always been attracted to people with self-confidence.

Approaching them, he turned on the charm. "Hi," he said, offering his hand to the women first. "I'm Bright."

Smiling, the fair brunette took his hand. "Lisa," she said, pointing to herself, and then to the other woman. "Susan." Susan reached out to shake his hand as well as Lisa continued to introduce people. "Joe-" she pointed to a tall, redheaded man, " and Mark-" a blond, pony-tailed man, whose tag announced he taught programming and media classes. Finally pointing to the man who'd caught Bright's eye, she smiled at little as the man turned around to shake his hand. His dark hair was unruly, and Bright knew he'd been right about this one. "Jamie." 

Jamie smiled a little, pushing a strand of thin hair back from his delicate, Asian features. Bright grinned. "Where are you from?"

Jamie smiled. "Susan and Joe are locals, and Lisa-"

"Don't!" Lisa interrupted, sounding amused and annoyed.

"Lisa's a Jersey girl," Jamie continued teasingly. "Mark's from Texas, and I'm from New York."

Bright smiled. "I'm from Colorado." At the questioning looks he got, he shrugged. "Hey, people actually live there. I mean, it's not Nebraska or anything."

Susan laughed and shrugged. "It's not that. It's just that most teachers are locals- at least northeast- and you're the second teacher in five years to come from there."

Bright looked confused. "What? Where?"

"Oz," Lisa teased. "Or, maybe, Colorado. There's a music teacher who went to high school there."

Bright wrinkled his nose. "Weird."

Jamie grinned. "Yeah. He's cool, though. I guess he's a about your age, even though he looks pretty young." He eyed Bright. "What did you do before teaching?"

Bright shrugged. "Actually, this is my first real steady job. I had two years between high school and college, and then I worked on a few digs to get my degree as an official historian." He eyed Jamie, gauging his reaction. 

"Yeah, well, we can't all be so exciting." Jamie teased. "Some of us have to go to college, major in advertising, and then get a job teaching art."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Don't mind him. He's just bitter because the school board won't let him teach an art class in commercialism."

"For a Pratt graduate, he's pretty whiney about having a job doing what he loves." Joe teased, poking Jamie in the arm.

Bright laughed. "So, where's the original Colorado teacher?"

Jamie smirked. "Late, no doubt. Boy couldn't find his way out of an empty room with his car keys," he added fondly. "We actually knew each other in New York. I was in Brooklyn, he was in Manhattan. Met at a club downtown when I was a senior and he was just of high school, fighting his way through Julliard."

"Oh!" Bright exclaimed. "I know a kid who went there." 

"Tiny, tiny world," Lisa stated. "I feel like we should all swing like metronomes and sing the song."

Susan giggled. "You go first."

Bright smiled nostalgically. "Anyway, the kid dated my baby sister, dumped her after a year and a half together. Shocked the hell out of her."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Weird thing to sound fond about."

Bright shrugged. "He was a friend before that, haven't spoken to him since it happened. Anyway, the two of them were the epitome of teenage drama. Honestly, once the two of them broke it up I stopped having to be the mediator between them."

Jamie patted him on the arm. "Amen. Little sisters and friends always suck. If nothing else, it changes the friendship, because-"

"-How dare you dump my baby sister?" Bright finished with him. "Yeah."

Before anyone could respond, a man called out to them. "Everybody, take a seat. Let's get this show on the road!"

A/N: Thoughts? If all goes well, then nest chapter will be up nest week. Got to keep me inspired, though... Review!


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